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NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft has experienced a computer crash that has caused a breakdown in communication between the 46-year-old probe and its crew mission in the world.
Engineers are now trying to solve the problem as the parent spacecraft explores the uncharted territory of outer space. out of the sun.
Voyager 1 is the farthest spacecraft from Earth at about 15 billion miles (24 billion kilometers), while its twin Voyager 2 has traveled more than 12 billion miles (20 billion kilometers) from our planet. Both are in deep space and are the only spacecraft that operate beyond the heliosphere, the sun’s magnetic field. and areas that go far beyond the orbit of Pluto.
Originally planned for five years, the Voyager probes are the longest-running spacecraft in history. Their long lifetimes mean that both spacecraft have gained additional information about our solar system and beyond after achieving their initial mission of flying by Jupiter. , Saturn, Uranus and Neptune many years ago.
But their unexpected long journeys were not without their challenges.
Voyager 1 has three computers on board, including a flight data system that collects data from the spacecraft’s science instruments and integrates along with engineering information that reflects Voyager 1’s current state of health. ones and zeroes.
But Voyager 1’s data system appears to be stuck on auto-repeat, in a display reminiscent of the movie “Groundhog Day.”
The mission team first noticed the issue on November 14, when the spacecraft’s data communications unit began returning a pattern of ones and zeroes, like being stuck in a loop.
While the spacecraft is still able to receive and act on commands from the mission team, a problem with that communications unit means that there are no scientific or engineering data from Voyager 1 being sent back to Earth.
Voyager’s team sent commands over the weekend for the spacecraft to resume recording the flight, but no useful information came back, according to the statement. NASA.
NASA engineers are now trying to gather more information about the root cause of the issue before determining the next steps to correct it, said Calla Cofield, communications specialist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. in Pasadena, California, which manages the mission. The process can take weeks.
The last time Voyager 1 had a similar, but not identical, problem with the flight data system was in 1981, and the current problem does not appear to be related to other problems. has reached the cruise line in recent years, Cofield said.
While all Voyager probes face new challenges, only the original manuals written decades ago replace the mission crew, and cannot explain the challenges ahead. dealing with airplanes as adults.
The Voyager team wants to evaluate all the risks before issuing further instructions to the spacecraft to ensure that its operations are not affected by any unexpected ways.
Voyager 1 is so far away that it takes 22.5 hours for the commands sent from Earth to reach the spacecraft. Also, the team has to wait for 45 hours to get a response.
As Voyager’s older twin continues to explore space, the team Turn off the instrument slowly on these “adults” to conserve energy and extend their missions, Voyager project manager Suzanne Dodd say CNN first.
On the way, both aircraft carriers met emergency and falling away, including a seven months in 2020 when Voyager 2 fails to communicate with Earth. In August, the missionaries used a long-shot “shouting” method. to restore communications with Voyager 2 after a command inadvertently pointed the spacecraft’s antenna in the wrong direction.
While the team hopes to restore the normal flow of data returned by Voyager 1, the main value of the mission lies in its longevity, Cofield said. For example, scientists want to see how particles and magnetism change as they fly away from the heliosphere. But that record will be incomplete if Voyager 1 is unable to return data as it continues.
The mission team has been developing plans to expand the spacecraft’s power supply in recent years to allow for their four record-breaking missions. continue.
“The Voyagers are performing far, far beyond their primary mission and longer than any other spacecraft in history,” Cofield said. “So, while the engineers are working hard to keep them alive, we really expect problems to arise.”